Documenting the Past. A New Retrospective on Political Life in Habsburg Bukovina (1848–1861)

Abstract

Autonomy in the Habsburg Empire has a long and complex history. Some saw it as a central goal for the people of the provinces, while others considered it a more or less functional political exercise. The book that two authors from Iasi propose to readers makes a timely and significant contribution to the knowledge of the history of Bukovina. Based on a series of documents discovered in the Romanian archives, the study offers a retrospective of the struggle for autonomy in Bukovina, highlighting crucial moments and remarkable personalities. Identifying the approaches of the existing historical literature, the authors enrich the documentary framework necessary to understand the historical itinerary covered by the imperial province, insisting on the struggle for autonomy as a process indispensable for the preservation of an unassimilated identity within the Habsburg Monarchy.

Keywords

• sources
• provincial autonomy
• administration
• territorial structure
• identity
• petition